Congress is finally working to defund civil asset forfeiture

September 2, 2017

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 13: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill June 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation and he was later discovered to have had contact with the Russian ambassador last year despite testifying to the contrary during his confirmation hearing. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

Next week, the House of Representatives will consider an appropriations bill, H.R. 3354, which will authorize spending for the Department of Justice for the upcoming fiscal year. Some members, Republican and Democratic alike, have submitted amendment to the bill that would defund the directive issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Sessions The Hill’s 12:30 Report Philadelphia sues Sessions over sanctuary city ban Time running out for Strange in Alabama Senate race MORE to ramp up the use of civil asset forfeiture.Sessions is a vocal advocate of civil asset forfeiture, the process by which local law enforcement can permanently seize property or money that is suspected to have a connection to a crime. During an April 2015 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing , then-Sen. Sessions was less than sympathetic toward a witness, Russ Caswell, whose hotel was wrongly seized when local law enforcement claimed that it …READ MORE ON THEHILL.COM